Signabuddies: Mathieu Ost, SDR & Account Executive at Signaturit

Although born in the capital of Belgium, Brussels, Mathieu grew up on Belgian beaches. Later, he moved to Ghent to study International Business and now works in the coolest company in Barcelona, Signaturit. To develop his passion for technology and his impact on work and people, is the reason why he joined Signaturit.

He is addicted to running, swimming and loves to compete. Besides doing sports, he also likes to play the piano and is developing a thesis entitled "Mens sana in corpore sano, except on Fridays of course" where he details a comparative analysis of the city's bars and clubs with sociological interests. He is accompanied by his friends but all for scientific purposes. Of course. :P

Meet our SDR & Account Executive, Mathieu Ost

1. How did you discover Signaturit?

I first came to Barcelona in 2016 for an internship as part of my International Business studies. During that time, I wrote a thesis about Barcelona as one of Europe’s greatest startup hubs, and one of the entrepreneurs I got to interview, was Signaturit’s co-founder Salvador Severich. After that, we stayed in touch and finally, Signaturit offered me the opportunity to start my career at this amazing Legaltech startup. Obviously, I didn’t hesitate and flew to Barça.

2. How would you describe your work?

Challenging, but satisfying. I’m combining the Sales Development Rep. and Account Executive role for the French market, so organisation is key to make this work! I’m also a Flemish speaking “brusseleir”, so convincing French speaking prospects and creating this trust is a very satisfying and driving part of my job.

3. What is the overall purpose of your position?

I try to get valuable feedback from French prospects about their current workflows and find the different use cases where Signaturit can add the biggest value to their business processes. With that feedback, and our market research on the local eSignature competitors, we try to position ourselves better on each market.

My ultimate goal is to close deals and make Signaturit market leader in France too, step by step.

Mathieu in our offices

4. What have you learned from working in the Sales Department?

I love being in contact with people with the purpose to help them work as efficiently and “paper-free” as possible. My focus today is on France, but as a proud Belgian, I try to do the same for Belgium when I can.

An important part of my job is to see opportunities in my target countries and to respond to them, e.g. the digital transformation that is currently going at full speed in Belgium. Let’s see what we can do there!

5. How is a typical day in Signaturit for you?

Signaturit is a fast-growing scale-up working on its international expansion. For me, being in this “startup” environment and doing things by trial and error, is very educational and a cool way to develop myself as a (tech) sales person.

As a future entrepreneur, Signaturit is a great school to attend (haha).

6. What do you value most about working in Signaturit?

Unlike a lot of my colleagues, the first thing I do isn’t getting coffee, for the simple reason that I don’t like it. I might have a Red Bull though…

Every day, I get in touch with the French, Belgian and Dutch inbound leads, try to create interest within French mid-sized companies via cold emails and calls, and push to get feedback on their current workflows.

And when the opportunity occurs, as an Account Executive, I make them a Signaclient and let them work in a faster, more efficient and digital way. It’s more fun than it sounds.

7. What are your biggest challenges in Signaturit?

My biggest challenge as an SDR at Signaturit, is to get past the lovely gatekeeper and get in touch with the right person at the right time. But I guess that counts for all SDR’s at Signaturit and beyond...

However, once I get a hold of them, the great thing about my position (SDR & AE) is that I can build trust from my first call with them until the closing of the deal. As a Trust Service Provider, trust and a good relationship with the customers is crucial.

8. What do you like most about working in such an innovative sector?

It’s not just an innovative sector, it’s also very dynamic. With projects like Smart Contracts, Blockchain and Machine Learning, Signaturit has given me to opportunity to learn a lot about these “hot topics”.

Going to tech events, like Paris FinTech Forum (FR), Trustech (FR), SuperNova (BE), etc. isn’t only the best way to expand my network and get in touch with smart people and potential customers, but also the ideal place to dig deeper into these concepts.

9. What are the characteristics of a Signabuddy for you?

Signabuddies are epic. They manage to get things done, they’re creative, they have an open mind and are willing to help each other grow on every level.

And of course, they “work hard, play harder”

10. What would you recommend for future Signabuddies?

Make sure you have the above mentioned characteristics, apply and you’ll be the next epic Signabuddy!